Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage

Vrijdag 7 mei 2010 van 23:55 tot 1:50 uur op Nederland 2. Film uit 2005 van Marc Rothemund over de Duitse studentenverzetsgroep Die Weiße Rose.

überall und zu allen Zeiten der höchsten Not sind Menschen aufgestanden, Propheten, Heilige, die ihre Freiheit gewahrt hatten, die auf den Einzigen Gott hinwiesen und mit seiner Hilfe das Volk zur Umkehr mahnten. Wohl ist der Mensch frei, aber er ist wehrlos wider das Böse ohne den wahren Gott, er ist wie ein Schiff ohne Ruder, dem Sturme preisgegeben, wie ein Säugling ohne Mutter, wie eine Wolke, die sich auflöst. (Flugblatt IV)

Lees ook over Kardinaal Newman's invloed op Die Weiße Rose in de Catholic Herald.

Meer info hier (IMDB)

The Fourth Protocol

In de nacht van zondag 11 op maandag 12 april 2010 van 1:30 tot 3:25 uur te zien op BBC 1. Film uit 1987 met Michael Caine en Pierce Brosnan naar het boek van Frederick Forsyth. Het boekdraait om Kim Philby, Britse inlichtingenofficier, communist en spion voor de Sovjetunie van Stalin. In de film sterft Philby echter al in de openingsscene.



Meer info hier (IMDB)

Fort Apache

Zondag 11 april 2010 van 14:20 tot 16:25 uur op BBC 2. Western van John Ford met John Wayne, Henry Fonda en Shirley Temple uit 1948.

Meer info hier (IMDB)

Film: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

In de nacht van zondag 21 op maandag 22 maart 2010 van 00:00 tot 01:55 uur op BBC 2. Western van Tommy Lee Jones uit 2005.

Josh Hurst: Tommy Lee Jones wrote his Harvard thesis on Catholic writer Flannery O'Connor. At the time it no doubt seemed like a subject with little relevance to the craft of filmmaking, but, in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, it serves him remarkably well. Jones himself has admitted that the spirit of O'Connor looms heavy on his directorial debut, and indeed, Jones' first solo flight bears uncanny aesthetic and theological similarities to O'Connor's short fiction—dark humor, startling violence, spiritual restlessness, a flare for the grotesque, and a keen understanding of man's depravity that will doubtless strike some moviegoers as mere misanthropism.

Meer info hier (IMDB)

Film: L'enfant

Zondag 21 maart 2010 van 21:35 tot 23:10 uur op Ketnet & Canvas (VRT 2). Een film uit 2005 van Jean-Pierre en Luc Dardenne. Onder meer bekroond met de Gouden Palm (Filmfestival van Cannes).

Jeffrey Overstreet: The Dardennes insist that they are not making "Christian films" or encouraging a "Christian interpretation." They told Sight and Sound, "We never wanted to express any thesis, Christian or otherwise—it's simply a human story: you harm someone and you try to repent. But our civilisation is so much founded on religion that it's hard to get away from it." But whatever they claim about their work, art is capable of revealing far more than an artist intends. It would be interesting to hear an agnostic explain the existence and the work of conscience and grace in these characters' hearts.

Meer info hier (IMDB)

Filmtip: Metropolis

Vrijdag 12 februari 2010 van 20:40 tot 23:10 uur op ARTE. Stomme film van Fritz Lang uit 1927. Rechtstreekse uitzending van de herstelde film uit het Friedrichstadtpalast vanaf de Berlinale. Frank Strobel en het Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin verzorgen de muzikale begeleiding.

Martin Lichtmesz: „Metropolis“ ist eines der Wunderwerke aus einer nie wieder erreichten Blütezeit des deutschen Films. Inszeniert vom teutonischten aller Regisseure, dem genialen Fritz Lang, ist seine atemberaubende visuelle Meisterschaft unbestritten; schwer verdaulich, grandios vermurkst und faszinierend zugleich ist sein überbordendes inhaltliches Potpourri aus Kunst und Kitsch, Expressionismus, Maschinenromantik, Melodrama, christlich-mystischer Ikonographie, Weimarer Nachtklub-Dekadenz, bolschewistischen Reflexen und prä-faschistischen Masseninszenierungen, Gothic Horror, Science-Fiction und Sozialkritik.

Meer info hier (IMDB) en hier (FAZ).

Filmtip: The Edge

Donderdag 11 februari 2010 van 20:30 tot 22:50 uur op RTL 7.

Michael Long: Screenwriter David Mamet uses a wilderness survival story about friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness to present a few truths rarely seen in movies: Knowledge has its limits, fortitude is a weapon against hardship, and honor can motivate even the shallowest man to great sacrifice.

Meer info hier

Filmtip: Tombstone

Woensdag 10 februari 2010 van 20:30 tot 22:55 uur op RTL 7. Film van George P. Cosmatos uit 1993 met onder meer Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton en Charlton Heston.

Ben Shapiro: It ain’t the power of the badge that makes a mission right. That’s the message of this great western from George Cosmatos. While Wyatt Earp and his brothers start off wearing the badges, pretty soon, their enemies, the Cowboys, also carry the silver stars. Who’s right? The man with justice on his side.

Meer info hier.

Filmtip: Hawaii, Oslo

Woensdag 3 februari 2010 van 13:35 tot 15:30 uur op Nederland 2. Noorse film van Erik Poppe uit 2004.

Ron Reed: One commentator responded less positively to this film than he expected to, and wondered whether he was growing tired of portrayals of communities of broken people, almost all of whom "are are coping with severe emotional, spiritual, or psychological damage." I think what distinguishes this film from others of its kind is the fact that so many of these admittedly damaged, even desperate characters aren't lost in their own woundedness but are actively, even habitually, striving to make things better for people around them. More than anything, it's a film about salvation – not necessarily divine salvation, though the film does gesture in that direction at times, but mostly just the common, everyday human variety that quietly sustains the world day after day. Mostly, I thing it's a film about about the ordinary ways that ordinary people save each other, or strive to, or fail to, but manifest something glorious even in the striving.

Meer info hier.

Filmtip: Bad Lieutenant

In de nacht van woensdag 20 op donderdag 21 januari 2009 van 00:30 tot 02:15 uur op RTL 7. Schokkende film van Abel Ferrara uit 1992 met Harvey Keitel.

Harvey Keitel: I wanted to play this part because I have a deep desire to know God. Knowing God isn’t just a matter of going to confession and praying. We also know God by confronting evil, and this character gave me the opportunity to descend into the most painful part of myself and learn about the dark places.

Meer info hier.

Filmtip: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Vrijdag 15 januari 2009 van 22:50 tot 0:40 uur op Nederland 2. Bekroonde film van Julian Schnabel uit 2007. Naar de autobiografie, Le Scaphandre et le Papillon, van Jean-Dominique Bauby, hoofdredacteur van modeblad Elle, die door een beroerte volledig verlamd raakte en enkel nog zijn linkeroog kon bewegen.

Martin Tsai: Instead, there are a few genuine moments in "Diving Bell," as when the bedridden author recognizes how he has hurt the people who have dutifully remained by his side. His realization wasn't a comment on his anguished existence, but on the magnitude of humanity and compassion all around him, and though it probably won't win any Oscars, it inspires and uplifts in an unexpected way that makes viewers believe that joie de vivre is less a cliché than something too often taken for granted.

Meer info hier.

Filmtip: An American in Paris

Zaterdag 26 december 2009 van 14:55 tot 16:45 uur op BBC 2. Film met Gene Kelly uit 1951 en muziek van George Gershwin.

Steven D. Greydanus: Unlike the magical Singin’ in the Rain, Gene Kelly’s An American in Paris doesn’t transcend the musical form; but it’s still one of the great exemplars of the genre. The plot, characterizations, and love story are all paper-thin, but they’re just a pretext for Kelly’s effervescent dancing and choreography, and George Gershwin’s timeless music.

Meer info hier.

Filmtip: The Incredibles

Vrijdag 25 december 2009 van 16:10 tot 17:55 uur op BBC 1. Animatiefilm van Brad Bird uit 2004 met stemmen van Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson en Jason Lee.

Frederica Mathewes-Greene: This animated film skips pop-culture references and gross jokes in favor of a story that celebrates marriage, courage, responsibility, and high achievement. A family of superheroes — Mr. Incredible, his wife Elastigirl, and their children — are living an anonymous life in the suburbs, thanks to a society that doesn’t appreciate their unique talents. Then it comes to need them. In one scene, son Dash, a super-speedy runner, wants to try out for track. Mom claims it wouldn’t be fair. “Dad says our powers make us special!” Dash objects. “Everyone is special,” Mom demurs, to which Dash mutters, “Which means nobody is.”

Meer info hier.

Filmtip: Tora! Tora! Tora!

Vrijdag 25 december 2009 van 14:00 tot 16:25 uur op RTL 7. Film uit 1970 van Amerikaans-Japanse makelij.

Wikipedia: Het is een gedramatiseerde reconstructie van de Japanse aanval in 1941 op Pearl Harbor, de aanval die ertoe leidde dat Amerika formeel in de Tweede Wereldoorlog betrokken raakte.

De film toont niet alleen de aanval zelf, maar ook de aanloop naar de aanval. Zowel de Japanse als de Amerikaanse marine worden gevolgd, waarbij sleutelfiguren worden uitgelicht, met hier en daar ook aandacht voor diplomaten en politici. De scènes over Japanse personen zijn Japans gesproken en gaan vergezeld van Japanse muziek. In feite zijn het twee aparte films, door twee geheel gescheiden film-teams, die later samengemonteerd zijn, met de scènes in chronologische volgorde.

Meer info hier.

Filmtip: The Chronicles of Naria: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Donderdag 24 december 2009 van 15:15 tot 17:25 uur op BBC 1. Film van Andrew Adamson uit 2005 naar het verhaalvan C.S. Lewis.

Jeffrey Overstreet: Lewis described a story’s sequence of events as “a net whereby to catch something else.” While Aslan’s intimidating power and glory has escaped them, the filmmakers have “caught” the essence of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. And they’ve blessed the holiday season with a first-class family film that will stand tall after Lewis’s detractors have spent their feeble arrows. (Philip Pullman’s criticisms are shown up as more and more ridiculous as time goes on.)

With its story of a savior who suffered the consequences for others’ sins, and whose power proved greater even than death, this meaningful myth reflects rays of hope into a culture paralyzed by the chill of unbelief, where many really would prefer a winter without a Christmas. Those who respond to the movie’s roar by running to Lewis’s book will find Deeper Magic in its pages. Meeting them there, Lewis himself will lead them “further up, further in.”

Meer info hier

Filmtip: Babettes gæstebud

Woensdag 23 december 2009 van 21:25 tot 23:05 uur op Ketnet & Canvas (VRT 2). Deense film uit 1987 van Gabriel Axel met Stéphane Audran naar het boekvan Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen, Out of Africa).

Jeffrey Overstreet: Babette is quietly fighting the Gnostic lie that the spiritual life is separate from physical experience. She is revealing the glory of God to them through food. She shows them that food, like all of God’s great gifts, is meant to be celebrated and shared with vigor, reverence, and gratitude. It might even have the power to make friends out of enemies.

Bewegende beelden en commentaar van A.O. Scott (New York Times).



Meer info hier.

Filmtip: It’s A Wonderful Life

Zondag 20 december 2009 van 14:05 tot 16:20 uur op Eén (VRT 1). Filmklassieker van Frank Capra uit 1946 met James Stewart en Donna Reed.

The Anchoress: Portrayed so perfectly by the perpetually likable James Stewart, it is easy to miss the fact that George Bailey is not a simple and good-natured cornpone from upstate New York; he is a man whose heart and faith are essential to him, because they balance out a real bitterness that shows itself in little ways. A man who has had to cast aside every dream in order to do “the right thing,” Bailey is -thanks to an old injury- denied even dubious adventure of soldiering during World War II. Watch him spit in disdain at himself and his situation, after he has responsibly handled a blackout drill in his neighborhood. When the big man from the small town comes beeping by in a slick, shiny car and a shinier woman, see George Bailey’s lip curl, not because his wife is wearing a baseball cap and sitting in his old clunker, but because she is so clearly content with the cap, and the clunker, and with comfortable, sacrificing, trapped old George, who always wanted so much more. He adores his wife; he wants what she wants, but why doesn’t she want more?

He kicks the car door.

George Bailey, who is a very good man living by what our post-Christian era might consider “quaint” morals, is deeply distressed. He loves much. He hates, too. Where there is great goodness, there is always equal potential for badness and mayhem, and it is a testament to James Stewart’s talent, and Frank Capra’s direction, that we barely notice Bailey’s flaws for all his good points. The truth is, though, that Bailey’s flaws are what define him; they challenge him, constantly, to transcend his own instincts. Subconsciously, I think we see the man in full -good and bad, light and dark- and recognize ourselves in him.

Meer info hier.

Filmtip: I Know Where I'm Going!

Zaterdag 12 december van 15:50 tot 17:20 uur op BBC 2. Film van Michael Powell en Emeric Pressburger uit 1945 met Wendy Hiller.

Brothers Judd: I have to admit, I normally loathe these stories where one betrothed, or the other, or both, break off an engagement because they've found "true love." (I guess at the time it was also considered daring to implicitly criticize war profiteering by having Joan choose the poor sailor over the industrialist.) But the movie's so enchanting and the use of myth so effective that I eventually surrendered to it. Powell and Pressburger made many great films and this one, though I'd not rank it with their very best, is delightful. Highly recommended for husbands who owe their wives a chick flick.

Meer info hier.

Filmtip: The Deer Hunter

Vrijdag 11 december van 20:30 tot 23:45 uur op RTL 8. Film van Michael Cimino met Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, John Cazale, John Savage en Christopher Walken.

Wikipedia: The Deer Hunter meditates and explores the moral and mental consequences of war violence and politically-manipulated patriotism upon the meaning of friendship, honor, and family in a tightly-knit community and deals with controversial issues such as drug abuse, suicide, infidelity and mental illness. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Meer info hier

Father Barron over 2012

Father Barron bespreekt de film 2012 van Roland Emmerich (met spoilers).